Denison University is pleased to announce that Davis Projects for Peace will fund two initiatives proposed by Denison students. Denison is one of only 16 schools in the nation with two proposals funded in 2015. Both proposals focus on education opportunities for children in underserved areas.
Xinyi Hua ’16 from Jiangdu, China, has proposed a program to help educate those children left behind in China by parents who moved to urban areas to work. “Thirty students from Nanjing University will be trained as volunteer mentors for children. The mentors will establish strong and ongoing relationships with the children,” said Hua. “The project will establish a children’s library with a collection of estimated 500 books. As the project progresses, I will create a comprehensive e-portfolio which will include all of the elements of the project. I also will produce a manual with step-by-step instructions for replicating the program on additional college campuses.”
Jennifer Reyes ’15 from Boston, and Alison Sheldon ’15 from Seville, Ohio, have proposed creating a library with educational programming in the Zaatari Refugee Camp of Jordan to foster a reading culture among K-12 students in an attempt to supplement existing education efforts. “Education is one of the strongest tools an individual can utilize for empowerment as well as a nonviolent approach to tackling issues and conflicts in the modern world,” they said in their proposal. “This strong and universal connection between education and peace serves as the foundation of our plan to build a library in Zaatari.”
“I am inspired by the passions and talents of our students as social innovators to create positive and forward looking change,” said Denison University President Adam Weinberg. “All three students represent the liberal arts and Denison at its best.”
The Davis Projects for Peace is an initiative for undergraduate students to design grassroots projects for the summer of 2015 - anywhere in the world - which promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties. Projects for Peace was created in 2007 through the generosity of Kathryn W. Davis, a lifelong internationalist and philanthropist who died in 2013 at 106 years of age.